The Natural Context of “Original Goodness”

1. The Ground: Monism as Procedural Reality

· In the Druid Finn’s procedural metaphysics (NST), nature is not divided into two realms (good/evil, spirit/matter, creator/creation).

· Nature is one process: serial, discontinuous emergent events of energy packets.

· Existence = continual arising of forms (“standing waves”) from this underlying quantum field of possibilities.

2. Emergence as the Pulse of Being

· Every identifiable “something” — photon, amoeba, planet, human — exists only as emergent.

· Emergence is neither accidental nor teleological; it is simply the way the universe happens.

· Each emergent stabilises, briefly, then dissolves, feeding into further emergences.

3. Why Emergence = Good

· In a dualist frame, “good” is contrasted with “evil.” In Finn’s monist frame, no such metaphysical opposition applies.

· “Good” here means real, viable, and self-coherent.

o That which emerges has proven itself fit — at least momentarily — within the random field.

o Its “goodness” is its reality, its achieved standing.

· Emergence is therefore good per se because to exist at all is to succeed in surfacing from chaos into identifiable being.

· Non-emergence = nothing. Emergence = actuality. Actuality = good.

4. Humans and the Illusion of Evil

· What humans often call “evil” is a local misfit, a clash between emergent patterns at different scales (e.g., predator vs. prey, one tribe vs. another).

· But at the level of nature’s procedure, all are equally emergent, hence equally “good” in the primary sense: they exist.

· To declare “evil” is always to impose a human evaluative frame, not to describe nature itself.

5. The Minim: “Original Goodness”

· From this context, Finn condenses his thought into the maxim:
“Original Goodness.”

· Why? Because:

o The very fact of emergence = good.

o All emergents share this basic condition.

o Therefore, the original condition of all that is, is goodness.

It is not “original goodness” in the Pelagian moral sense, but ontological goodness: the affirmation that to-be-at-all = to-be-good.

6. Example Illustrations

· Seed sprouting: Each sprout is “good” in that it realises emergence, whether it grows tall or dies young.

· Photon strike: When a photon collapses a probability wave into an event, that actuality is good simply by being realised.

· Human birth: The newborn’s cry is not evidence of guilt (Augustine) but of emergence — the loud announcement that “I am,” and therefore, “I am good.”

Conclusion

In Finn’s druidic monism, the minim “Original Goodness” is not a moral doctrine, not a pastoral comfort, but a logical necessity:

· Nature is emergent.

· Emergence is actualisation.

· Actualisation is good.

· Therefore, all that is, in its origin, is good.

That is the natural context from which Finn’s phrase falls out as a logical, almost tautological conclusion of his worldview.

Original Goodness vs. Original Sin: Freedom or Subjection

1. The Druid’s View: Maximum Freedom

· Ground: Nature as monist, emergent process.

· Minim: Original Goodness — every emergent is good by virtue of existing.

· Consequence:

o Each emergent — photon, tree, human — is free to realise its own form.

o No pre-stamped guilt, no inherited debt.

o Freedom = the capacity to stand as oneself within the larger flow of nature.

· Ethos: Encouragement, not condemnation. The task is not to escape a fallen condition but to explore one’s emergent possibility.

· Politics: None. The druid has no church to defend, no empire to serve. His maxim liberates, not regulates.

2. Augustine’s View: Absolute Subjection

· Ground: Dualism of sin and grace; humans inherit corruption from Adam.

· Doctrine: Original Sin — every human is born guilty, enslaved to sin.

· Consequence:

o Freedom is illusory; only God’s grace, mediated through the Church, saves.

o To resist ecclesiastical authority is to resist God.

o The human self is not permitted to stand on its own but must submit.

· Ethos: Control through guilt. The subject is perpetually reminded of weakness, corruption, dependence.

· Politics: Augustine’s doctrine shores up the institutional Church. Salvation requires its sacraments, its priests, its hierarchy. Subjection to ecclesial power mirrors subjection to God.

3. The Core Contrast

Finn the Druid	Augustine the Priest-Politician
Monism: nature is one emergent field	Dualism: corrupted human nature vs. divine grace
Original Goodness: to exist = to be good	Original Sin: to be born = to be guilty
Freedom of every emergent to be itself	Subjection of every emergent to priestly control
No politics: maxim liberates	Heavy politics: maxim enslaves
Meaning arises locally, experimentally	Meaning is dictated from above, through hierarchy
Authority of being	Authority of institution

4. The Polemical Punch

· The druid’s maxim “Original Goodness” is profoundly subversive: it makes every emergent its own authority, needing no mediator.

· Augustine’s doctrine of “Original Sin” is profoundly political: it makes every emergent dependent, subject, controlled.

· One opens space for maximum freedom; the other enforces absolute subjection.

5. Example

· A newborn child:

o For the druid, the cry of birth is an announcement: “I am — therefore I am good.”

o For Augustine, that same cry is already tainted by Adam’s sin; the child must be baptised at once lest it be damned.

· The druid hears freedom. Augustine hears guilt.

Conclusion

· Finn’s druidic view: nature is a continuous lottery of emergents, each a spark of original goodness, free to unfold itself.

· Augustine’s political theology: humanity is chained by inherited sin, liberated only through submission to Church authority.

Thus the difference is stark: freedom versus control, affirmation versus guilt, druid versus priest-politician.

‘Everyone is born a winner’

Condemnation of Augustin of Hippo

Original Goodness upgrade

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